... aka: Ghost Story of the Seven Wonders of Honsho
... aka: Ghost Story of the Wanderer of Honsho
... aka: Kaidan Honjo nanafushigi
... aka: Seven Mysteries
... aka: Seven Wonders of Honjo, The
Directed by:
Gorô Kadono
One of many familiar tales of wronged samurai
and avenging ghosts to follow the widely-acclaimed Ugetsu (1953),
this is given some minor distinction by the inclusion of some extremely
weird ghosts and by working various Japanese folk stories into the plot;
namely The Seven Wonders of Honjo. Back in the Edo era, the village of
Honjo was a barely-populated land with vast, quiet fields, which visitors
found to be somewhat eerie. Numerous ghost legends are attributed to the area and these include (1) a
voice calling out from a pond demanding fishers leave their catch behind (2) a human head being pulled out of a well (3) the sounds of drums being
heard but the source being unable to be located (4) lanterns that float on
their own through the woods or refuse to go out even when blown on, and several others. Seven Wonders opens by briefly explaining those ghost legends and then
proceeds to work each into its story line. It begins with the fish story,
where two men hear a disembodied voice telling them to "Leave the fish!" They ignore it
and then are faced with a bunch of strange mutant ghosts. After seeing a
faceless woman, a hulking man with three glowing eyes, a Cyclops, a girl
with an extremely long, elastic neck and an umbrella with a human leg
bouncing around, the guys run off and forget about their fish. Things then
settle into a more routine revenge plot.
Upon becoming a man, Yuminosuke (Jûzaburô Akechi) is off to try to make his way in the
world; leaving behind his father Sazen (Hiroshi Hayashi), his stepmother Sawa
(Akiko Yamashita), not-so-loyal
servant Gosuke (Saburô Sawai) and Yae (Namiji Matsuura), a young maid who's in love with him, in the
process. While he's away, his wicked cousin Gonkurô (Shigeru Amachi),
who's been disowned by the entire family, returns. Though he claims he's
there to pay respect to his deceased Aunt on the anniversary of her death,
Gonkurô actually is there for one reason and one reason only: to get his
hands on some money. He and Sawa used to be lovers before she remarried
and the two start getting together behind Sazen's back; finally
hatching a plan to murder him for the inheritance. Gonkurô and a group of his thugs slay
Sazen and one of the servants; taking control of the house soon after.
Not content with just that, he also attempts to rape Yae but Yuminosuke
returns just in time to save her. Gonkurô then decides to do away with his
cousin, so he pays off Gosuke to do the dirty work. After stabbing him in
the back, Gosuke is shocked that his master's body immediately disappears
afterward. Yuminosuke then returns to the home as if nothing has happened.
Just what's going on?
The strange events are all attributed to a Tanuki, which the subtitles
tell us is a "were-badger" that occupies the Sumida River Valley. Though
I'm not so sure how a "were-badger" differs from a regular badger, the
mythology here says the animals are pests that trick people out of food
but can also be helpful critters with supernatural abilities if you
somehow win their loyalty. The Father happened to save one of them before
being killed, and the animal vowed to spend the rest of its life
protecting him and his family. The Tanuki takes human form as a woman
named Tebeydanuki (Michiko Tachibana), and since she was busy doing some dance while the
murders were taking place, she now has a few deaths to avenge. As it turns
out, the Yuminosuke who has show up at the house and managed to miraculously
survive a stabbing isn't actually the real Yuminosuke (who's fallen ill
and hasn't even returned yet), but Tebeydanuki impersonating him.
Eventually, a monk is called in to perform an exorcism, the real
Yuminosuke returns to the home and discovers what's been going on and some
of the weird ghost things from the opening scene make a return visit.
This is well-made, doesn't wear out its welcome at just 55 minutes and
though the midsection is extremely familiar, the opening and closing
scenes partially make up for it, though the weird-looking ghosts are
underutilized. The only cast member I recognized was Amachi, who seemed to
corner the market on bad guy roles in Nobuo Nakagawa films like THE LADY VAMPIRE (1959), The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959) and Jigoku
(1960). In 1983, he even co-starred in the Paul Naschy vehicle The
Beast with the Magic Sword, which was shot in Japan with partial
Japanese backing. Director Kadono also made the kaidan THE MOTHER TREE (1958) and Ghost of the Girl Diver (1960).
★★1/2
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